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W. Carolina defeats Eagles

Cullowhee, NC. — On a day when Victor Roache hit home run number 16, Western Carolina (14-17-1, 5-11) took the series opener from Georgia Southern (20-15, 9-4) 12-3 on Friday, April 15th. Roache moved to within one of the Division I leader, Jake Lowery (James Madison), for the moment. GSU and WCU will continue the series today at 3 p.m. with the finale slated for 2 p.m. on Sunday. Georgia Southern rebounded from a 4-0 deficit after the second inning and pulled within a run in the top of the sixth. A six-run bottom half for the Catamounts put the game out of reach. Five unearned runs crossed the plate in the inning on a fielding error by the shortstop. A pair of two-RBI doubles by Ross Hefly and Matt Johns drove in four of those runs. Chris Beck who had previously been undefeated, was tagged with his first loss. Beck dropped to 5-1 after allowing five earned runs, 10 total, on 10 hits in 5.1 innings. The sophomore allowed an uncharacteristic four walks. He also struck out five batters. Matt Benedict earned just his second win of the year with a solid eight-inning performance. Benedict allowed three earned runs on seven hits and struck out four batters. T.J. Page threw a scoreless ninth inning but allowed a bunt single to Stryker Brown. Georgia Southern put its first run on the board in the fourth inning on a nine-pitch two-out double by Steve Cochrane. Cochrane, who had 22 two-out RBIs coming into the game, drove in Michael Burruss from first base. The Eagles added single runs in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings to reach their final score of four. Brown singled on a bunt and forced a throwing error allowing Garren Palmer, who led off the fifth inning with a base hit, to score from second base. Roache hit a solo shot in the sixth inning to pull Georgia Southern within a run, 4-3. Tom Richardson plated a second two-out run in the eighth inning. GSU tallied nine hits on the day, and all but one starter had a hit in the game. Brown led the Eagles with two hits. Western Carolina picked up 12 hits to score its 12 runs. Three Catamounts recorded multi-hit games with Hefley leading the way with four hits and four RBIs.

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